Los Al landmark homes eyed after forgery claim

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LOS ALAMITOS City officials removed the historic landmark status of one home and are considering the status of three others after a homeowner filed a $500,000 claim against the city alleging a document in the landmark process was forged.

The Los Alamitos Planning Commission removed the landmark designation for a 90-year-old clapboard home at 10872 Chestnut St. earlier this month. The commission had approved that building's status, along with three others, in May 2012 at the behest of the Los Alamitos Museum Association.

But Ella Roberts, now the sole owner of the house, alleged in the Dec. 18 claim that the signature of her late brother, who was co-owner of the house, was forged on a letter supporting the status. Her brother went by the name Reinhard F. Meyer, according to a letter by her attorney, and the signature on the document said “Fred Myer.”

“Whoever forged this document couldn't even spell the last name correctly,” attorney J. Eric LeVine wrote in the letter to Los Alamitos that accompanied the claim.

On Jan. 13, the Planning Commission voted to remove the designation to “clear up any discrepancy” and “reduce potential liability,” according to the staff report.

Commissioner Art DeBolt voted against the measure, saying he thought such a serious matter should have first been brought to City Council and was “outside the purview of the Planning Commission.”

“I think it would warrant a further investigation, at least into the process into how the signatures were obtained and how they were verified,” DeBolt said.

The Planning Commission has also directed city staff to put a proposal to cancel the landmark status of the other three properties listed in 2012 on its next meeting agenda, on Feb. 10.

Only the city is named in the claim, which states that the designation reduced the value of the home by $500,000, or up to two-thirds its estimated value.

Former Mayor Marilynn Poe, president of the Los Alamitos Museum Association, denied the signature was forged. She said in an interview that she asked Meyer to sign the landmark consent document as part of the museum's plan to preserve some of the city's historic buildings.

“It was not a fraudulent signature. He signed this in front of me,” Poe said. “He was excited about this being designated as a historic site.”

Meyer was stooping from his arthritis when he signed the paper on a clipboard outside his house, Poe said, to explain why his signature looked different.

The document had no place for a witness's signature and was not notarized.

When asked why that wasn't necessary for the city's approval, Community Development Director Steven Mendoza declined to comment

A spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's office said that no case has been filed.

‘FRAUD OR GROSS NEGLIGENCE'

Four homes were included on a list of historic Los Alamitos homes compiled by the Los Alamitos Museum Association on May 14, 2012. The Los Alamitos Museum was later added to the list.

The house at 10872 Chestnut St. was listed as dating back to the 1920s, when the Meyer family rented it, according to a document submitted to the city by the association. It belonged to Meyer and Roberts, according to a deed LeVine submitted to the city and obtained with other documents by the Register.

To get a building designated as a landmark, the city needs the written consent of the homeowner. LeVine says Meyer's signature looks substantially different and provided other examples of his handwriting.

He usually gave his name as Reinhard F. Meyer, according to the claim and documents submitted to the city. Meyer died in September at 79.

Roberts, who lives in Fountain Valley, discovered the signature discrepancy when she was settling Meyer's affairs after he died. The city violated its code by basing Meyer's consent on a forged document and by not including the consent of the co-owner, according to the claim.

“It is our position that this designation was brought about as a result of fraud or at a minimum gross negligence,” LeVine wrote in the letter to the city.

He said the designation reduced the value of the house by $500,000 by limiting alterations its owners can make, thereby making it less marketable.

A home valuation estimate wasn't available for the home, but online real estate marketplace Zillow valued the home behind it, also owned by Roberts and on the same tract, at $785,000.

CEREMONY AND LEGAL STATUS

Poe said the claim stemmed from a misunderstanding. She said the City Council had never intended property values to be affected by historic designations and that she solicited the designation under that assumption.

“Every intention was that it was ceremonial only,” Poe said.

However, Los Alamitos city code requires owners of
homes designated as local landmarks to follow state and federal code when they undergo alterations.

The planning director must sign off on minor alterations and improvements, such as installing air conditioning units or fences, while larger changes require approval of the Planning Commission or a site plan review.

Poe said in the interview that she was unaware the designation placed such restrictions. But she told the Planning Commission in May 2012 that the landmark applicants had been informed of the restrictions, according to the meeting's minutes.

DeBolt said he was skeptical that Poe was unaware of those restrictions. She served 16 years on the City Council, helping to pass the local landmarks ordinance in 2006, he said.

The historic status may never have been legal in the first place.

LeVine said that the document was incomplete without Roberts' signature as the house's co-owner. Poe agreed, and added that she recently realized that the status is not legally binding because the 2012 meeting was not properly noticed and no public hearing was held.

Roberts did not wish to comment. LeVine said the city appears to be cooperating with his request to remove the designation.

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